Under Support Program for Urban Reforms (SPUR) it has bagged the ‘Order of Merit' award for Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Bihar at the prestigious SKOCH Awards held during September 2013.

IPE Global is providing technical assistance to SPUR project in Bihar, which is an initiative of the Government of Bihar and is funded by Department for International Development (DFID).

This award was bestowed under the category of SMART Governance to the ‘Centralized Grievance Redressal System for 141 ULBs of Bihar'. The intervention now features in the Merit List of India's Best-2013.

The Centralized Grievance Redressal System, not only seeks to improve government-citizen interface, but it is also designed to enhance accountability and improvements in municipal services. It provides a uniform platform to register citizens' grievances and to give feedback.

The intervention has a well-defined escalation matrix for non-adherence to defined timelines for grievance redress. An SMS gateway has been integrated for information to citizens and action taking authority and its centralized implementation set-up facilitates economy of scale and ensures no additional financial burden on the ULB'. The system was launched in February 2013 and has been working well with 80% of grievances successfully closed.

Ashwajit Singh, chairman and MD, IPE Global, said, "It is a matter of great pride for us to be associated with such successful interventions under the Government of Bihar. SPUR is doing great work in addressing the urban sector needs of the state."

The jury member shortlisting the awards commented that two specific aspects of the entry from Bihar were impressive. Firstly, the fact that an urban intervention from Bihar had made its presence felt at the national level. Secondly, development of the Citizens Charter in Bihar has been done for different categories of municipalities and not for individual municipalities as is the common practice.